


Wrapped Around You

by NeverBackDown001



Category: NCIS
Genre: Comfort No Hurt, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Minor Character Death, Post 18X07, Spoilers, Tags Are Fun, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:42:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29341509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverBackDown001/pseuds/NeverBackDown001
Summary: In light of a friend's death, they can't help but cling onto one another a little tighter, because everything can end in a moment and they want their moments to last forever.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop & Nick Torres, Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 2
Kudos: 63





	Wrapped Around You

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for 18x07 so read at own risk.

Ellie can't stop thinking of little Vicky Palmer, tiny, sweet and not even out of elementary school and her mother is gone. Sweet Vicky and her golden heart, probably hoping her mom would come back. And Ellie can't stop thinking of Jimmy. Jimmy who is vunerable, shows emotion because he doesn't know how not to. Jimmy deserved the world and now, his world was crushed into tiny little ashes of dwindling hope and grief. 

Life is so incredibly short. 

She's known Jimmy for almost eight years, he was kind and patient with her, helped her through her bad habits like food associating and sitting on the autopsy table(which really irked him, she later on realized and felt bad). Jimmy had seen more death than any of them and he deserved that loving wife and his little girl who Ellie was sure was the luckiest little girl in the world. 

Ellie stands there in the bullpen, eyes glued to the screen where there's a photo of Breena, she's beautiful, way out of Jimmy's league(which everyone liked to pick at because Jimmy would boast about it), and died so young. Before she had gotten sick, she had heard talk of wanting another kid, maybe a little boy. And even the thought of Jimmy having a son gave a smile for Ellie to wear. That smile was now dead. 

She couldn't quite hear what Jimmy was saying, she was lost in her thoughts, not wanting to think of how crushed, broken and splintered Jimmy was and how that now he was a single dad, trying to pick up the pieces of what his wife left behind. Ellie had offered to help with Victoria, but Jimmy had declined, promising her that he had it. But she didn't think he did, he was going crazy trying to do it all at once and she simply wanted to help. 

Bringing herself back to the real world, she glanced up at Nick, who was standing close to her, his eyes transfixed on the screen too, his lower lip slightly quivering, like he wanted to say something but was biting it back. She sighed and looped her arm through his, not even thinking that their team was right there, she didn't really care at the moment. She needed to know that he was right there, that it would all be okay. But could it be okay? Could this all end well? 

Jimmy didn't get his happy ending. They all thought he did. But he didn't. Breena was gone. 

Nick glances at her warily, but doesn't say anything. She's grateful. Words sometimes can't say what touch can. 

The world is spinning fast, she can see and hear what Jimmy was saying, see the couple of tears slide down his cheeks and he wipes his glasses, as he stares at the picture of his wife. Ellie knew they got married close to a decade ago, right before the explosion and bombing at NCIS. And how right after they married he returned to duty. Because Jimmy was that humble hero. He still was. And always would be. 

Once their tiny memorial is over, Ellie let's go of Nick, offering him a warm smile before gathering her things, she simply wants to go home and sleep, wake up and pretend it's all alright, that nothing is wrong and she can go on, happy in her little bubble. 

"Dibs on the elevator!" She and Nick call it before McGee can and you can hear his sigh of defeat, Jimmy is talking to Gibbs and Sloane, away in their own little world, tear tracks drying on his cheeks. 

"Oh seriously." McGee groans as he goes and takes the stairs. Ellie snickers, knowing that by the time this is over, McGee will thank them for making him take the stairs. She and Nick walk into the elevator, the heavy silence between them. She knows his mind is on what happened a few minutes ago. She knows that because she knows him. She know's what he's thinking and some of the time, what he feels. 

They don't speak as the elevator clambers down, but she can hear the words bubbling on his lips, the unspoken agreement that tonight they couldn't be alone, and if it started out lonesome, they would find each other at one or another's apartment, wrapped in each other's arms, words dying in their throats. 

She climbs into her old truck, the steady hum of the engine is soft and draws her out of her thoughts, she glances out of her right side window, seeing Nick driving off in his Jeep. The moon shines through the soft clouds, stars shining like needles in the dark drapes of the sky overhead. It's strangely beautiful, that even in the city, the sky clogged by smoke and ash, the stars still shine and the moon still burns through the clouds. 

It only reminds Ellie of her days on the farm, laying on the sleeping bags with her older brothers telling ghost stories by the fire under a plump silver moon, the howl of the wind and coyotes in the distant making them shiver with unrelenting fear and adreneline. Those days made her smile because they would forever be immortal, imprinted in her mind forever. The sky there, at home, would be littered with bright lights shining, and sometimes Ellie wished they could tell stories for her to listen to. 

When she arrives in front of her apartment, Nick's Jeep is already there, he's leaning on the railing of the steps, staring at the ground. A soft smile stretches across her lips as she climbs out and up towards the door. 

"Hey," She smiled a little, brushing the hair from her face. 

"Hey," He replies, giving a smile as well. 

She unlocks the door, the key scrapes against the metal lock and the padding of her boots on the hardwood floors, the familarity of home comforts her. it makes her feel safe. She takes off her shoes and so does Nick, that silence still between them, there are many unspoken words between them. Too many. Nick's hand finds her and somehow they make it into her room, and crawl into her bed, still in their work things. 

Ellie can feel his stare in the dark, his eyes boring into her skin, their hands tightly intertwined, body's pressed together. 

"I don't know what I'd do, El," Nick finally says after long, burdening minutes of silence. 

She frowns. "If what?" 

"If you died," His whisper is frail and almost weak, like he can't bear to say the words. Ellie blinks, letting the darkness drain out of her eyes so she can look at his outlined features. 

"I'm here for the long run, you know that." Her other hand comes up and touched his chest, fitting around his jaw, his dark eyes like beacons in the middle of the ocean. 

"That's the thing El, we don't know. Breena Palmer had her whole life ahead of her and she just...died...and out of the blue. She didn't have a high risk job. We risk our lives everyday." 

Ellie knows this. She knows that everyday she could die, well everyday someone can. But everyday she chooses to get up and head to work because she loves her job and what she does. She believes that the good guys can get happy endings too. 

She scoots closer to him, his warm breath on her neck and his other arm wrapping around her waist rather tightly, like she's a lifeline and if he let's go, he'll fall too. 

"You won't lose me Nick. And if you do, I'll go a happy woman," 

Nick lets out a barking, half amused, half confused laugh. Like he doesn't understand what she means. "Why a happy woman?" 

"That's easy. Because I had you. I have you." 

Another minute of darkness and silence. She can hear his breathing and heart-beat, she can hear her own. They had never said those three little words, yes they had admitted they had feelings for each other, not long after her bout with Merriwether and the jail-cell. That was three-ish weeks ago. Since then she had been happier than she had been in her entire life. 

"I love you Nick." 

She presses a soft kiss to his lips, one that means promise, one that means everything in the entire world, one that means if they world was to explode right now she wouldn't care because this moment is better than any life she has lived or will live. 

When she breaks apart from him, her forehead pressed to his, eyes locked and hand's still gripping one another, he murmurs. "Good thing I love you too, El."

They fall asleep like that, pressed together, holding each other with a kind of love that not even death can break because it's pure, real and warm as the sun. Because that they would move heaven, hell and earth for one another without a second thought. Because even the thought of a life without one another is really no life at all.


End file.
